Before we ventured out on our roadtrip, I bought TomTom’s US/Canada and Nordic apps for the iPhone for an awful lot of money. Hey, I thought, always having a navigation system in my pocket is a pretty nifty tool for traveling around a foreign country. Gee, golly.
Off we went, got the car, fired up the TomTom app aaaaand… FAIL.
What TomTom forgot to write on their incredibly self-conglatuatory app description (‘has been very well received’, my ass) is that the app is literally only half the product, as it is on its own, incapable of keeping track of your location while driving.
Oh, for that to work properly, you need the TomTom cradle.
I would have bought the cradle in the blink of an eye actually. Except, it wasn’t available. And still isn’t by the way, with ‘Coming Soon’ having been the message on the website for about two months now.
So I bought half a product. Twice. I’m stupid that way.
So the same day we drove to a Target and bought a real TomTom unit. Worked flawlessly and practically saved our trip several times.
I mailed TomTom, asking for my money back on the iPhone apps, reasoning that they had sold me a product which fails to live up to what it promised (and promises still) to do. They told me they couldn’t give me back my money, I would have to take that up with Apple.
Of course, despite in theory having the ability to remotely turn off apps, Apple of course holds the policy of flat out no refunds on iTunes Store purchases.
So… TomTom creates an app which in itself does not do what it promises (and which is expensive, the US & Canada version currently goes for $100), but they unfortunately can’t refund my money. And Apple, renowed for their approval process, which ostensibly is supposed to shield me from bad apps, chose to approve TomTom’s app and gladly took my money despite the app not working?
What is wrong with this picture? What happened to my rights as a consumer? They product may be virtual, but my money isn’t…
Moral? Easy… Stop buying stuff. It’s that simple.
Although I’m an Apple evangelist, I’m siding with you. Your consumer rights may have been violated despite Apple’s “no refund” policy or Tom Tom’s excuses. Send a letter concurrently to both companies’ customer service departments. If they they don’t remedy the problem, contact the State Attorney General’s Office, Consumer Protection Division in California and your State.
This deserves more press. Share this story with other Mac-centric news sites and sites reporting on GPS products.
I wish you would be more detailed and explanatory about what exactly failed. Give a description and scenario. This would help your readers understand what exactly was wrong.
I’d like to know what failed too. I was thinking about getting that app too. I was waiting for the cradle to get released first though.
I’m actually a little surprised. There was a bit of a stink a few months because Apple was giving refunds, in that they would take the full cost of the refund from the developer.
So I buy an App for $1 and Apple takes $0.25 and gives the developer $0.75. I get a refund, I get my dollar back, and the developer is out $1 (and Apple keeps it’s 25 cents).
Who did you talk to at Apple about getting a refund? You might also contact the credit card company that you use with Apple and see if they’ll help carry the fight. Some Credit Cards will pay you back immediately and then take it up with the vendor.
The same thing happened to me, except I bought the Australian version. Tom Tom support actually said to wait and BUY THE CRADLE when it comes out rather than actually provide support. I was very unhappy with this.
I used the “Report a Problem” link on the iTunes email receipt, filled out the form and sent it off. The next day I had an email saying “Apple is sorry for my experience” and $99.99 will be refunded to my credit card within 72 hours.
What about transaction fees – that’s why a “no refund” policy is in place.
Sorry you had problems. I am interested to hear what didn’t work also. I was able to use the app from Cleveland to Pittsburgh to Williamsport to Harrisburg and it was always able to know exactly where I was and provide proper driving instructions. And I too, obviously, did not have the kit as it was not yet available.
I am assuming all the obvious are true (you have a GPS enabled iPhone and it was on, etc. etc).
I agree there may need to be a better recourse for unsatisfied customers, but I think you are incorrect in saying that you NEED the TomTom Cradle for the app to know where you are. That relies on the GPS function of the iPhone itself. The cradle merely augments the GPS signal, according to the TomTom literature.
Good luck.
If he was someone on twitter or facebook with 100,000 followers this would be resolved in a couple hours after he makes the post. I would also suggest posting his story to the consumerist who can probably help him get in contact with higher ups in both companies.
I’m just wondering why is he stuck on getting a tomtom?
Actually, there is a way to get your money back. In iTunes, when you open your iTunes account overview you can report a problem with any purchase in your purchase history. Choose “accidental purchase” and give a few compelling reasons. I used it once and got my money back within a matter of days. It’s worth a shot.
I had a poor experience with a file transfer program on my iPhone. I used the “report a problem” link from the receipt email and sent a clear description of what I felt the functional failings of the app were, and that it didn’t live up to the standard of quality and utility I expected from an Apple device (even though the software wasn’t by apple, they are effectively a gatekeeper).
I received a response from an app store rep within a day, and they credited me the purchase price back to my account. It’s not a hard process.
Hey, I love Apple too. Hell I was sporting a ‘I visited the Mothership’ t-shirt when I wrote this entry.
The apps problem is that it takes forever to get a proper signal to begin with. Sometimes it is entirely unable to get a signal at all (where a normal TomTom unit has no problem at all). Once it got a signal and we were on the road, the signal couldn’t keep up with our actual position, meaning it in reality had no idea where we were. And even then, the signal would be inaccurate and might even show us as driving on a road parallel to the one we were on.
With regards to getting a refund from Apple, I haven’t talked to anyone, I simply read this, factored in their well-known response tardiness and ‘sorry, I can’t do that Dave’-ness and figured that was that. But seeing as several of you have had good experiences getting refunds, I’ll try just that today.
I’ll update when I know more.
I just bought a RAM mount for my iphone 3GS. Works great, I’ve used my iphone with Tom Tom, Sygic NAM, Navigon (best) and one other of the $100 apps. No problems what so ever.
RAM Mount $25, I use it in the car, and on my motorcycle. Several thousand miles under its belt. You couldn’t have possibly thought the iphone was going to work in your pocket in the car :rolleyes: of course you’re going to need some kind of mount.
I’ve used it both standing freely and lying in the car with the top down. Nothing a mount would help with.
Anyway as of today THERE IS NO GOOD CAR NAVIGATION software available on the iPhone platform (and I fear on any a–GPS device).
When you’re on open streets, with clear sky and constant speed the iPhone can handle your position and drive you through the route planned. But if you are in narrow spaces, between “alley”, inside eupoean old town, under skyscrapers, or “busy” streets with lots of turns and you find that the public administration has changed the road direction the provided GPS simply can’t handle all data and position and so there is no way to have a plain, simple, calm car navigation.
I’ve tried TomTom and 2 relases of Navigon, but the problem is the GPS module and the available CPU for the app.
And if you sum iPhone + TomTom + Cradle you get an awful LOT of money, and realize that with 100€ or less you can get a real car navigator, sometimes with added functionality.
Make your decisions now …
I was considering “upgrading” to this from my old standalone GPS. Then I read reviews of it being slow. Thinking about it more I knew that I’d get pissed with it as the iPhone doesn’t do background processes. No running Spotify whilst I have the Sat Nav going is a deal killer. Jailbreaking lets me background but that doesn’t solve the memory issue.
The problem, or at least part of the problem, you faced, could be related to your iPhone being a European version. The “real” TomTom you bought at Target was obviously a “native american” unit.
As we all know by now the GPS system relies on contact with at least four satelites to tell you precisely where you are. If the device do not know specifically which satelittes to look for, it can take a looong time (i.e. 20 – 30 minutes) to get a proper fix. If you don’t know this, you may try and restart your device several times. Every time you do, the 20 – 30 minutes start over again (adding immensely to your frustration). What most devices refer to as a “quick GPS fix update” is in fact just a bit of data that you install on your device that tells it which satelittes to look for. To have this data is even much more important if you have a shittly little GPS receiver which most mobile phones (prolly including iPhone) do.
I often bring my TomTom GO 930 to USA. Because of the above described situation, I have gotten in to the habit of turning on my TomTom as soon as I am out of the airport. Taking the typical bus ride out to the rental car typically allows the TomTom to get the fix.
Did you take notice of how quick your US GPS was to get a GPS fix once you got back to Copenhagen. Or have you not used it at all?
Anoho, under all circumstances I think you made the proper choice and got a proper TomTom. I’ve been a TomTom user for years and am very happy with the service and devices. I look forward to update to th 940 GO and subscribe to the Live Services :)
Ah, that’s very interesting Rask. I don’t know if that could be it, but we did try it several times while in the US, with little improvement from time to time.
Either way, no, I haven’t used our TomTom unit since we got back, having only just gotten the European map installed yesterday. But it was, I might add, partially due to your recommendation that I chose to go with a TomTom unit, and it served us very well indeed while we were in the US.
$100 should be nothing to you…
In fact if you spent time you spent on complaining to apple on your work
you would have made more then $100 bucks and could have reduced stress+chance of cardiac arrest.
And if you spent the time it took you to write that comment, not writing that comment, you would have saved yourself two to three minutes.